


Winter Bones

by amyowlett



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Action, Adventure, Alternate Universe - Historical, BAMF Narcissa Black Malfoy, Cissamione, Danger, England - Freeform, English, F/F, Gay, Gay Stuff, Goblins, Good Narcissa Black Malfoy, Hercissa, History, Humor, Killing, LGBT, Lesbian, Murder, Narcissa Black - Freeform, No Blackcest, No Incest, Original Goblin Character(s) - Freeform, POV Hermione Granger, Rotstick, Set In The Future But Also The Past, back in time, countryside, lots of gays, nothing underage tho that's gross
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-01-02
Updated: 2019-01-10
Packaged: 2019-10-03 02:12:17
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,578
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17275151
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/amyowlett/pseuds/amyowlett
Summary: AU:Set in 2010. Hermione Granger befriends Andromeda and Bellatrix Black, but before long, she develops complicated feelings for their older sister Narcissa Black. She harbours this secret for years, but sinister things are going on at Hogwarts, and Hermione and Narcissa are left to fight an unknown evil with the help of the rest of the Black sisters. Will they stop whatevers out to get them before it's too late?(No Blackcest. Narcissa/Hermione endgame.)





	1. Chapter 1

"Well this is weird as hell." Tonks said, sighing as she sat down in the train carriage opposite me.  
"These robes are so soft." I frowned, tugging at them. We were the first ones on the train, and picked the carriage right at the end. It was a weird train, a steam train, something I've never seen in person before.  
For around ten minutes, peoples heads peered through the glass doors of the carriages, looking for somewhere to sit. When they saw us, they moved on, so we were alone up until the train began to move.   
As the train pulled out of the station, a head popped up behind the glass, and the sliding door opened.  
"These seats taken?" asked a young girl with striking cheekbones and glossy, curled brown hair. I shook my head no, and she plopped down next to Tonks as another girl came in.   
The second girl looked exactly similar to the first girl, except where the first's hair was brown, this girls was jet black, and where the first girls skin was tanned, this girls was almost deathly pale. The second girl sat down next to me.  
"I'm Andromeda Black, and this is Bellatrix Black, my sister." said the brunette girl, smiling warmly.   
"I'm Tonks." said my sister, looking slightly wary.  
"Tonks? That's not a real name." Bellatrix scoffed.  
"What, and Bellatrix is?" my sister shot.  
"Yes! I'm named after the third brightest star in the Orion constellation!" she huffed.  
"Only the third?" I questioned, smirking at her.  
"And who are you?" she asked imperiously, turning to me.  
"Merlin Granger." I replied. Bellatrix's eyes widened and she looked at Andromeda, who was sharing a similar expression of surprise.  
"Yeah, I know, it's a boys name and it's weird, whatever." I rolled my eyes; I had been through all this before. So what I wasn't called Jessica, or Grace, or Daisy, or Chloe... it doesn't make me any less normal, and -  
"Do you not know who Merlin is?" Andromeda asked, frowning.  
"Yeah. He's that guy out of that movie series with Katie McGrath! I bloody love her, y'know."  
"And Colin Morgan!" Tonks chipped in.  
"Oh, yeah, that was the actor that played him, yeah. Hasn't done much since, has he?"  
"Nah, don't think so." Tonks shrugged.  
"What? No." Andromeda looked confused.  
"Merlin is the most famous wizard of all time! And the most powerful, too. He was taught by Salazar Slytherin himself!"  
"Salzar Slithering!?" I scrunched up my nose.  
"Not much of a tongue twister, that." Tonks said, giggling.  
"He was one of the founders of Hogwarts." Bellatrix stated pompously.  
"He can't be that important if i've never heard of him. Also, what kind of name is Hogwarts? I mean, hog-WARTS. Like warts." I began to laugh, amusing myself as Bellatrix slumped in her seat, annoyed.  
"So, what house do you think you guys will be in?" Andromeda asked, changing the subject.  
"House? What do you mean?" Tonks frowned.  
"Uhh... if you guys don't mind me asking, what are you?"  
"What do you mean?"  
"I mean, are your parents magical?"   
"Our parents are dead. But they never mentioned us being... magical, or whatever, so I guess not."  
"Okay, so you guys are probably Muggleborns. Which explains a lot."  
"Muggleborns?"  
"Non-magical people are called Muggles. If you're a witch or wizard and your parents are both muggles, you're a muggle born." shee said. I noticed Tonks listening intently, while Bellatrix was looking fixatedly at the door in a strop.  
"Anyway, there are four houses at hogwarts. Slytherin, Hufflepuff, Gryffindor and Ravenclaw. They are each named after the four founders of Hogwarts: Salazar Slytherin, Helga Hufflepuff, Godric Gryffindor and Rowena Ravenclaw,   
"Each years group of students in the same house share a dormitory and many classes with their houses, as well as each house having a common room for all years." Andromeda explained.   
She had just moved on to the subject of sports when Bellatrix interrupted.  
"Shh, Andy, your not explaining it right!" Bellatrix's eyes lit up as she turned in her seat and faced us. "Each house has it's own Quidditch team that competes for the Inter-House Quidditch Cup, and-"  
"Quidditch?" Tonks asked, as we both looked confused. Bellatrix absolutely squirmed in her seat, she was so excited at the prospect of explaining Quidditch to someone who had never played it before.  
Bellatrix spent at least half an hour explaining Quidditch as in depth as possible, which only confused us more, until Andromeda stepped in and explained it as simple as possible. That, we understood.  
"You guys call call me Andy, by the way." Andromeda said, smiling at us.  
"And you can call me Bella!" Bellatrix added, beaming. It was certainly a change from earlier.  
After around two hours on the train, someone joined us.  
"Hi, I'm Arthur Weasley!" a young, chubby, red-haired boy entered the carriage and slumped down next to Andy.  
"Tonks."   
"Bellatrix."  
"Andromeda." she smiled.  
"Merlin." I nodded at him, sighing when his eyes widened.  
"Merlin! Are you... are you related to him!?"  
"No." I said, and he looked dissapointed. I rolled my eyes, feeling bad. "Just call me... Hermione."  
"Hermione?" he looked confused, as did everyone else in the carriage.  
"My middle name is Hermione, so... I just don't wanna get that look every time I say my real name."  
"Fair enough." the boy shrugged.  
"So, why are you here?" Bella asked him bluntly.  
"I heard you were muggleborns!" he said excitedly.  
"Is that... rare?" Tonks asked, confused.  
"Well... it's confusing. Muggleborns have always been around, since the beginning of time. But they've faced a lot of discrimination, mainly from Purebloods." Andromeda began. We looked confused, and she explained "Purebloods are witches or wizards who don't have any muggle or muggleborn blood in them. They've always married other purebloods. Pureblood families are usually noble, wealthy families, and you can generally recognise them by their surnames."  
"For example, me, Andy and Arthur are all purebloods. Arthur is a Weasley, which is a noble family, and so is the Blacks, our family. We are so called 'Noble' families, however you will notice we aren't much different to either of you."  
"What Bella means, is generally all the muggleborn/muggle hate has no basis, really. And most likely, all purebloods have muggle ancestors." Andy continued.  
"They just pretend they don't." Bella rolled her eyes in annoyance.  
"That's what Mum and Dad say, anyway." Andy shrugged. "Also, recently, there has been a huge decrease in the number of muggle borns being born. We can't call it suspicious because it just... doesn't make any sense. It must just be a coincidence. Even so, it is a bit weird. In, say, the 90's, a third of students had strong muggle relations. Today, though, you two are the only muggleborns on the train, according to Arthur at least." Arthur nodded vigourously. "The rest are Purebloods or Half-Bloods. You can probably guess what a Half-Blood is." we nodded.   
"It doesn't make sense, really. It should be going the other way - there should be more muggleborns, and less purebloods! It's logic!" Bella threw her hands in the air dramtically.   
They talked about it for a bit longer, before the grave conversation turned to something more light hearted. Arthur bombarded the both of us with questions about the less exciting muggle things, such as what a mechanical pencil was. We entertained him for a while, as Bella and Andy listened, before he realized we were tired of his incessant questions, and he stopped. He stayed in the carriage with us, claiming he didn't really have anyone else, and we were happy with that.  
An hour after Arthur had arrived, a boy called Neville entered our carriage. Neville was the shortest out of all of us, with messy black hair, round glasses and a pale face. He had apparently lost his toad, which he had just found outside our door.  
We began to talk about school subjects. Bella seemed to like potions the most, Andy and Neville Herbology, and from what I could tell about the subject, I was most looking forward to Care of Magical creatures, which according to Andy only became a core subject a few years ago, when one of the teachers was almost killed by a Hippogriff because they didn't know how to deal with it. She said a Hippogriff was like a Griffin, something I had actually heard of. Apparently those existed, which I have to admit isn't exactly reassuring. Next, they'll tell me dragons and fairies exist!  
A woman came around with a trolley full of sweets, and Tonks collected peoples money and stood up and handed it to her, asking for what everyone in the carriage wanted. A girl was stood by the trolley, and after speaking to her for a while Tonks came back to tell us she was going to the other girls carriage for a bit. She hadn't spoken much to Bella, Andy or Neville, but seemed to perk up at the idea of going and sitting with this blonde girl and her friends.   
I was the only person with no magical experience, so everyone in the carriage put their money together and bought everything on the trolley, much to the womans dismay. She claimed she got to eat the sweets left behind, but now there would be none. I think she might have cursed me. Can witches do that?  
I was overjoyed, as, for the next hour, they showed me every single sweet from the trolley, and the magical properties it had. It was incredible.  
Halfway through the journey, Andy and Neville got into a long, deep, fascinating talk about Herbology, Bella had fallen asleep, and Arthur began to read a book. I stared out of the window, watching the Scottish countryside, curious as to what the next few years would entail.  
\--  
"Welcome to Hogwarts!" my booming voice echoed around as I stood at the top of the stairs, allowing the new students some time to ogle at the wonders around them; talking, moving portraits, winding stone hallways, moving staircases, ghosts, and much, much more.  
"The start-of-term banquet will begin shortly, but before you take your seats in the great hall, you will be sorted into your houses. The sorting is a very important ceremony because, while you are here, your house will be something like your family within Hogwarts. You will have classes with the rest of your house, sleep in your house dormitory and spend free time in your house common room. While you are at Hogwarts, your triumphs will earn your house points, while any rule-breaking will lose house points,   
"At the end of the year, the house with the most points will be awarded the House Cup, a great honor. I hope each of you will be a credit to whichever house becomes yours. The sorting ceremony will take place in a few minutes in front of the rest of the school. I suggest you all smarten yourselves up as much as you can while you are waiting."   
Soon enough, the sorting began.  
"Andrew Steward!"  
"Gryffindor!"  
"Lily Evans!"  
"Gryffindor!"  
"Arabella Thyme!"  
"Ravenclaw!"  
"Nymphadora Granger!" I called out. A small, nervous looking girl with short purple hair walked towards me, and sat on the stool. I placed the hat on her head.  
"Hufflepuff!" the hat shouted after roughly 30 seconds, as the table on the far left erupted into cheers. She got up and ran to the table, a wide grin on her face.  
"Bellatrix Black!" I looked up to see the 11 year old girl stomp up to the stool, her raven hair bouncing on her shoulders. She tried to act cool as she sat down, but her excitement was showing through.  
"Slytherin!" the hat called in a gruff voice, almost as soon as the hat touched her head.  
"Andromeda Black!" the young brunette girl with soft eyes bounded up to the stool.  
"Slytherin!"   
"Arthur Weasley!" the ginger boy almost ran up to the stool, so excited just to be there.  
"Gryffindor!"  
"Druella Plyth!"  
"Ravenclaw!"   
\--  
Every name had been called out now except from mine and Neville's.  
Neville was convinced he would be in Slytherin, although he didn't seem like he wanted to be. He walked slowly up to the stool after Professor McGonagall had said his name, tripping on his way. A few people laughed. He sat, shaking, as the hat was placed on his head.  
"Gryffindor!" the hat called. Neville looked shocked, and stayed sitting down, as McGonagall nudged him slightly to get him to leave. I could see the faces of Andy and Bella, and they looked overjoyed. He walked to the Gryffindor table and sat by Arthur, starry-eyed.  
It was my turn now.  
\--  
"Merlin Granger!" the hat called. Everyone in the room broke out into seperate conversations at the sound of her name, but I silenced them with a steely glare. The young girl, who had bushy hair, bright green eyes and wasn't even wearing her robes, walked up to the stool. Her face didn't show any emotion, but she was trembling ever so slightly. I knew that she was a muggleborn, along with her violet-haired sister, as I had been to visit her foster home to break the news to them. As they had no parents, they were the only ones I had to inform. I sent the person taking care of them a fake scholarship to a boarding school, as was custom.  
After placing the hat onto her head, I stood back.  
A minute passed.  
Four minutes.  
Now it had been five.   
The hall was silent.  
She passed the record for the longest time to sort, a record set by myself.  
Six minutes. The students began to shift in their seats, bored.   
When it reached eight minutes, I looked to Dumbledore for support, but his eyes were focused solely on the young girl sat in front of me. I knew already this would be on the front cover of the Daily Prophet by tomorrow morning.  
Ten, long, silent minutes after the hat had been placed on her head, the hat spoke up. You wouldn't have been able to hear the hat's voice voice at the back of the hall, as it was so quiet.  
"I don't know." it mumbled.  
"What?" I said, shocked, my accent rougher than usual. Dumbledore strode forward, towering over the terrified girl.  
"I don't know." the hat repeated, almost quieter than before, if possible.   
All the heads of the houses got up at Dumbledores request and stood outside. Back in the hall, the young girl sat with the eyes of everyone in the hall looking at her as they chatted excitedly.  
We all debated on what to do. No one had any idea. All of a sudden, Dumbledore strode back into the hall, and stood at his podium. We followed, as the hall fell silent.  
"Minerva, Severus come here." he said to us, and we joined him.  
\--  
He seemed to whisper something in their ears, and McGonagall became deathly pale. They both seemed to be arguing with Dumbledore.  
"Andy, what's happening?" Bella asked me, looking nervous.  
"I don't know." I replied, scared for Hermione. She had done deathly pale.  
Professor McGonagall and Dumbledore walked fowards, and stood on either side of Hermione, with Snape behind her, forming an odd sort of Triangle.   
They held their wands in the air, as their eyes suddenly faded to a terrifying, souless colour. It looked black, but it wasn't, it was... something else entirely. All of a sudden, I saw all the ghosts that haunted Hogwarts begin to seep through the walls, making a circle around the three teachers and the small, terrified student.   
A humming sound filled the hall, as the enchanted sky above began to turn completely golden, swirling around. The swirling became faster and faster, until it formed a gap in the middle, like a tornado. The gap was huge, and black, but contained thousands of glittering dots. Four of those glittering dots slowly began to become bigger and bigger, until they reached the size of a quaffle, blinding everyone in the hall.   
Then, the brightness faded, and four figures floated down.  
\--  
I watched the figures come towards me. I was terrified. McGonagall, Dumbledore and another man I didn't know had fallen into their chairs, exhausted. As the teachers recovered, I looked at the three figures.  
"Godric Griffyndor." a tall, handsome man with long, wavy brunette hair who was dressed in red clothing bowed to me, a sword on his belt, before kneeling infront of me.  
"Helga Hufflepuff." a tall, slender, gorgeous blonde woman curtsied, and then joined the Godric man in kneeling.  
"Rowena Ravenclaw." like the others, she was incredibly good looking, with sleek black hair and a simple blue gown. She curtsied and kneeled.  
"Salazar Slytherin." a slimy, black haired man with a triangular beard and green clothing bowed stiffly, scowling slightly as he kneeled.  
I was confused, as every single person in the room looked amazed. Even Dumbledore, McGonagall and Snape looked amazed that it had worked, although the latter tried to hide it.  
"Why are they kneeling?" I asked Dumbledore, terrified. The hat was still on my head, and McGonagall took it off.  
"I think I might have an idea." Dumbledore replied. "But that can wait until later. Stand up." he commanded, and the stool disappeared with a flick of his wand.  
"It is an honor to finally meet you." Dumbledore said purposfully, standing beside me. "I presume you know why we have summoned you...?"  
"We do." Helga Hufflepuff replied. Most of Hogwarts was still starstruck, but a flash of purple hair got my attention as I saw my sister get up and run towards me.  
"Stay back, Miss Granger, it is imperative that you stay back. You too, Minerva, and you Severus." Dumbledores face was grave, his voice low, and they all stepped back as a golden ring formed around me and the four... people? Is that what they were?  
"What the hell is going on?" I mouthed to Tonks, as she looked panicked and shook her head.  
"I have no idea!" she mouthed in reply.   
I looked around me and saw all sticks pointing at me, a golden glow emitting from them. Smoke began to come out of the sticks in different shapes. A Snake, a Lion, an Eagle and a Badger. An odd assortment of animals.   
The smoke animals began to run around me, slowly running faster and faster until they stopped, and seeped into me. A general fog covered the hall, so that all I could see was the four people as they stood in front of me.   
"You are of the chosen four... The conquerers. You weild a power like no other, a power that can never be understood by wizardingkind and mankind alike." Rowena began.  
"The four belong to no house." said Godric.  
"The four are their own house, you are all, you are one." Helga finished. The three of them stepped back, as Rowena kneeled before me. Her brown eyes darkened to black, and a posessed look came over her. She spoke with a low, gravelly voice.  
"The grey griffin shall rise again, the bird will take flight. A carriage without horse will go, disaster fill the world with woe. The sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from the sky, and the heavenly bodies will be shaken. At that time the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and all the nations of the earth will mourn. They will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky, with power and great glory. And he will send his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of the heavens to the other. The final battle is nigh. She seeks one, but finds four. A fish out of water."  
"Jesus Christ, what is happening?" I muttered. The fog cleared, and the founders stood.  
"We have made our decision." Godric announced.   
"What house is it to be?" Dumbledore asked, the hall still silent.  
"Slytherin!"


	2. Chapter 2

"Come on! We're in the same dorm!" Bella called excitedly, dragging me up a small staircase. We entered a round room with a low ceiling, containing 5 beds.   
"I wonder who we'll be sharing with?" Andy pondered, walking over to the bed with her trunk in front of it. All the beds were around the edge of the room, with an old fashioned furnace in the middle. The furnace warmed the room, and casted a warm, yellow glow. Green curtains hung around the four poster beds, and the duvets were coloured a dark green.  
I spotted my black rucksack at the end of the bed furthest from the door, and I went over to it. There was a desk next to each bed, and I placed my rucksack on top of mine.   
A window was beside my bed, with a small alcove I could sit in. I climbed into it, and looked out of the window. All I could see was murky water. I reached out my finger out and touched the window, and in the reflection of the glass, I could see my eyes glow orange for a second, as the water suddenly became crystal clear. I smirked. It felt good that I could finally use my magic around everyone now I was a witch, or a wizard, or whatever it was called. In my foster home, I never used magic. I was too scared of being caught out by the other kids living there. Now I actually know what I am, and that I'm not alone, and it feels amazing.  
I wondered if Tonks was a different type of witch. She couldn't make anything happen with her eyes, but always used magic without realising it. I couldn't count the amount of times we had been sent back from a foster home after she broke something, or set something on fire, without even meaning to. It was usually the curtains.  
I climbed out of the alcove, and was sorting through my rucksack when I heard the creak of an opening door.  
A tall, young, slender woman who was around twenty years old entered. She had short, blonde hair, and her eyes were a piercing blue.  
"Aunt Cissy!" Bella screeched, running towards the kind looking woman and wrapping her arms around her. A large smile spread across her face as two young girls enveloped her in a huge hug.  
"Hello, girls." she said, trying to regain her composure. "And you must be... Merlin?"  
"It's just... Hermione. Call me Hermione."  
"As you wish." she nodded at me, then turned to the girls. "I came to inform you that you won't be sharing your dorm with anyone else, it will just be the three of you. Unfortunately there are not enough students to fill the dorms this year. In fact, you three are the only new Slytherins this year, although the other houses seemed to gain a... roughly normal amount." she frowned. "Oh, also, Mer- Hermione, Dumbledore wishes to see you in his office. Now."  
Professor Black exited swiftly, and I followed her as Andy and Bella shared worried looks.  
"Dumbledore will be waiting for you." she informed me as we reached a statue of a Griffin. "The password is 'Dumbledore'." Professor Black said, before striding off in the opposite direction, her robes billowing out slightly as she walked.  
"Dumbledore?" I called out uncertainly. Nothing happened. I waited a few minutes. Still, nothing.  
"Bloody- DUMBLEDORE!" I bellowed, watching with amazement as the statue of a Griffin began to spin and form a staircase. I hopped onto the second step, clutching the wing of the statue so as not to fall. A few seconds later, the staircase stopped moving and I stepped up and into a small room, with a wooden door in front of me.  
"Wait up!" I looked behind me just as I was about to open the door, and saw Tonks. As soon as my eyes landed on her I ran to her, enveloping her in a huge hug.  
"Are you okay?" she asked worriedly, looking over me.  
"Yeah. I think so."  
"That was pretty wild." she commented, dusting off her uniform.  
"You don't say." I replied, sharing a much-needed laugh with her. We then sobered up, and I pushed open the wooden door to reveal a huge room.   
If I wasn't scared out of my wits that I was about to be thrown out of school, I would've liked to look around. It was a large and circular room, full of funny little noises. A number of curious instruments stood on spindle-legged tables, whirring and emitting small puffs of smoke. One curious instrument seemed to have found itself on the floor, and Tonks tripped over it as she walked in.   
The walls were covered with portraits of headmasters and headmistresses, all of whom were snoozing gently in their frames. There was also an enormous, claw footed desk, and, sitting on a shelf behind it, a shabby, tattered hat - the Sorting Hat.   
I watched it curiously. It wasn't very interesting when... asleep? Was it asleep? It's facial features weren't present anymore, and when I walked forward and poked it slightly, it made no noise.   
Then, a strange, gagging noise behind us made us wheel around. We weren't alone after all. Standing on a golden perch behind the door was a decrepit-looking bird which resembled a half-plucked turkey. I stared at it, and the bird looked balefully back, making it's gagging noise again. I thought it looked very ill. It's eyes were dull and, even as I watched, a couple of feathers fell out from it's tail.   
I was just thinking that all I needed to finish the day off was for Dumbledore's pet bird to die while I was in his office, when the bird burst into flames.   
Tonks jumped in the air in fright and I yelled in shock as I backed away into the desk. I looked feverishly around in case there was a glass of water to spare, but I couldn't see one. The bird, meanwhile, had become a fireball; it gave one loud shriek, and the next second there was nothing but a smouldering pile of ash on the floor.  
"Professor," I gasped, "your bird -"  
"We couldn't do anything - he just caught fire -" Tonks continued, panicked, but to our surprise Dumbledore, who had just appeared, smiled.   
"About time, too." he said. "He's been looking dreadful for days, I've been telling him to get a move on."  
He chuckled at the stunned looks on our faces.  
"Fawkes is a Phoenix. Phoenixes burst into flames when it is time for them to die, and are reborn in the ashes. Watch him..."   
We looked down to a tiny, wrinkled, new born bird poke it's head out of the ashes. I looked at it in wonder, but Tonks looked slightly horrified. It did look quite as ugly as the old one, I could admit that.  
"It's a shame you had to see him on burning day," said Dumbledore, seating himself at his desk. "He's really very handsome most of the time: wonderful red and gold plumage. Fascinating creatures, Phoenixes. They can carry immensely heavy loads, their tears have healing powers and they can make highly faithful pets." his blue eyes twinkled slightly.  
He gestured for Tonks and I to sit opposite him, and as we did, the door behind us opened.  
"Ah, Minerva, you're here," Dumbledore spoke. "Now we can begin."   
"You are both... this is quite difficult to explain, really. I am not entirely sure how you have managed to last so long without... exposing yourself, to the muggles, but -" he stopped for a second, and held out a bowl to us. "Sherbert Lemon?" he offered. I took one, but Tonks declined. Sherbert Lemons had always been a weakness of mine, as were any sweets really.  
"You are both Metamorphmagi."  
"Meta what?" Tonks looked horrified, like Dumbledore had just told us we had a third nipple.  
"A Metamorphmagus is a witch or wizard with the ability to change their physical appearance at will, rather than requiring Polyjuice Potion or a spell like the rest of the wizarding population. They are also extremely rare."  
"Whats a Polijuize potion?" Tonks asked, furrowing her brows.  
"A potion that allows the consumer to assume the physical appearance of another person, as long as they have first procured part of that individual's body to add to the brew - it is most usual to use hair. The effect of the potion is only temporary, and depending on how well it has been brewed, may last anything from between ten minutes and twelve hours. You can change age, sex, and race by taking the Polyjuice Potion, but not species." McGonagall explained.  
"Yes, and they are extremely difficult to brew. However, they are not needed if you are a Metamorphmagus. Metamorphmagi do not have to register with the Ministry of Magic like Animagi must, as Metamorphmagi did not choose to become what they are, while Animagi did. Also, unlike Animagi, Metamorphmagi do not possess any distinct markings that come with their transformation, so it would be far more difficult to keep track of them for any signs of ability abuse."  
"Wait, whats an Ani....magi? Did I say that right?" Tonks asked.  
"And what is the Ministry of Magic?" I asked.  
"I..." McGonagall sighed. "An Animagus is a witch or wizard who can morph him or herself into an animal at will. It is a learned, rather than hereditary, skill. An Animagus registration exists to keep track of those that have learned this skill."  
"For example..." Dumbledore turned to McGonagall, and she sighed again. My mouth fell open as I watched the tall, strict, Scottish woman shrink down to form a small, grey cat with black stripes and white markings around the eyes that seemed to form the shape of spectacles. A second later, the Scottish woman was back.  
"Does that mean she's an Ani-ani... ani something?" Tonks asked, pointing to me as I elbowed her. "Ow! What did I do!?" she muttered as I glared at her.  
McGonagall looked down at me through her spectacles, her mouth pressed into a hard line as Dumbldore looked at me with surprised eyes.  
"What do you mean?" Dumbledore asked Tonks, not taking his eyes off of me.  
"Uhh... I dunno."  
"Minerva, please escort Nymphadora back to her dormitory, then return back here. Immediately."  
"Do not call me Nymphadora!" she fumed, her hair turned a fiery orange.  
"My apologies, Tonks. I trust you will not repeat anything you have learnt here?"  
"So I can't tell people I'm a Metamorpha something?"  
"I think they will be able to figure that one out rather quickly. Just keep the Animagus subject under wraps."  
"Of course." she replied, frowning slightly. She left, and Dumbledore turned to me.  
"Have you ever flown before?" he asked me.  
"I... yes." I looked down.  
"You have?" he looked surprised, his piercing eyes fixed intently on me.  
"It was... at the foster home," I began. "Matilda Smith was sixteen. I was nine. She kept saying she couldn't do this anymore. I found her one day, on the roof of the building. She jumped, I - I didn't know what to do, so I jumped after her. I couldn't - I didn't do it quick enough. She fell, and she... she died. But I didn't. I dont know what happened, but all of a sudden I was... in the air."  
"Was there any smoke around you, white smoke or black smoke?"  
"Uhh... no. Nothing." I replied. He frowned.  
"Did you have a wand with you?"  
"A what?"  
"A wand. You don't know what that is?"  
"No." I replied, as McGonagall returned.  
"Have you been to Diagon Alley?"  
"No... what is that?"  
"So you have no school supplies?"  
"I... I didn't know I needed any."  
"Where did you get your uniform from?" he asked, pointing to the white button down and black jeans I wore. The tie I had was a red one, which almost matched the gryffindor tie, but it was just the tie I had come with.  
"It's my old school uniform." I replied.  
"You will need robes. And other things, a cauldron, a wand, a... your sister will need these too. Minerva, tomorrow morning please take the Grangers to Diagon Alley. Take them before breakfast so they do not miss their first lesson. You can get them some food there, if you wish."   
"Of course." she replied.  
"Now, onto the most important subject. You must be honest with us, Miss Granger. What was your sister talking about?" he looked sincire, and I gulped.  
"I... it's better if I show you." I stood up, and backed away from them. Closing my eyes, I felt a surge of energy flow through me, as my eyes opened and flashed orange. Soon enough, I began to grow.  
"Merlin's beard!" McGonagall exclaimed, watching as a I morphed into a large, grey griffin, before turning back into a small, bushy-haired eleven-year-old.  
I breathed heavily as I kneeled on the floor. Regaining my balance, I stood up and sat back down in front of Dumbledore, who wore the same shocked expression as McGonagall.  
"Never... never in all my years..." McGonagall muttered, turning deathly pale before fainting, falling down slowly onto the stone floor.  
\--

**Author's Note:**

> Don't forget to vote and comment!


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